Thin Lizzy which is now fronted by The Almighty’s Ricky Warwick, sounded amazing. Warwick’s vocals are very similar to the late Phillip Lynott, and he does an excellent job. Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Alice Cooper Band) is the bands newest guitarist replacing Vivian Campbell, and Richard Fortus. He seems to fit in quite well. I have never seen Thin Lizzy before, and was amazed at how good they sounded. I was thrilled to see this classic band in action. They lineup has changed several times over the years, but Thin Lizzy still rocks.

Black Label Society put on one of the loudest shows in recent memory. I am pretty sure the folks eating wings at Hooters in Newport, KY (that is down the river from U.S. Bank Arena) could hear Zakk Wylde & company. Black Label Society’s sound guy must have had all of their amps set at maximum volume. The only problem with this was, Zakk’s vocals were inaudible. I know all of Black Label Society’s music, and I could watch Zakk Wylde & company play all night. Wylde is a killer guitarist, and as much as I love his playing, I like his vocals even more. I was disappointed that I couldn’t hear them. Aside from that, Black Label Society sounded great.

Judas Priest took the stage and proceeded to play for over two hours. They covered songs from just about every facet of their career. The Metal God, Rob Halford is still getting it done in 2011. The 60 year old front man, may not be able to hit all of the notes he used to, but he still sounds great. Ritchie Faulkner who has replaced the retired KK Downing on lead guitar, not only looks the part,but does an amazing job. KK Downing will always be missed, but Faulkner has injected new life into Judas Priest. The Judas Priest set included the following songs: “Rapid Fire”, “Metal Gods”, “Heading Out to the Highway”, “Judas Rising”,”Starbreaker”, “Victim of Changes”, “Never Satisfied”, “Diamonds & Rust”, “Dawn Of Creation”, “Prophecy”, “Night Crawler”, “Turbo Lover”, “Beyond the Realms of Death”, “The Sentinel”, “Blood Red Skies”, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown)”, “Breaking the Law”, “Painkiller”, “The Hellion”, “Electric Eye”, “Hell Bent for Leather”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” and “Living After Midnight”.

This is Judas Priest’s Epitaph tour, meaning the band will not longer do world tours from here on out. There was only four – five thousand in attendance at the Cincinnati show, which I though was extremely disappointing. This may be the last time we get to see Judas Priest perform in our area. Judas Priest put on an excellent that was a feast for the ears & the eyes. The show filled with pyro, lasers, and more importantly some legendary metal tunes played to perfection.

There are only a few tour dates left on the Epitaph tour. If you live in one of the areas below, you should definitely get a ticket for this show.

Some things get better with age. With Vincent Furnier aka Alice Cooper (who turned 63 in February) this is truly the case. With Alice Cooper’s latest effort, Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Alice has turned in one of his most creative pieces of work yet.

Producer Bob Ezrin came up with the idea for Alice to do the sequel to Welcome to My Nightmare. I don’t know if anyone could have guessed what Alice would come up with after that. Alice Cooper brought in several of his old bandmates including Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith, Steve Hunter, and Dick Wagner, as well as a cast of many others to help create a brand new nightmare, which to my ears is one Alice Cooper’s finest works to date.

Welcome 2 My Nightmare somehow manages to recapture that classic 70’s sound of the original, without sounding dated. Welcome 2 My Nightmare incorporates the sounds of classic and hard rock, and little bit of disco. It is hard to compare it to the monsterous album Welcome to My Nightmare, which spawned such great songs like “Cold Ethyl”, “Only Women Bleed” and “Welcome to My Nightmare”. You won’t find Vincent Price (God rest his soul) narratives on Welcome 2 My Nightmare either, but you are going to find a whole bunch of new tunes that you will be sure to love.

There are several songs on Welcome 2 My Nightmare which could easily be worked in to Alice’s live set for years to come. This album is so strong that he could probably do a tour playing the entire album live. The album isn’t perfect, but it is pretty close to it. I could have lived without the auto tune effect on Alice’s vocals on the opening cut “I Am Made of You”. Luckily, this is the only song plagued by that ill-used effect. (Note: To all artists and producers of rock music, Auto Tune is NEVER ok to use in rock music; No one wants to hear that crap.) “I Am Made To You” is a pretty strong opener, and a really good song. Bob Ezrin should have known better than to use those effects in my opinion.

While Alice Cooper’s previous effort Along Came a Spider was an outstanding effort, it pales in comparison to the creative and enthusiastic offering Welcome 2 My Nightmare from the Alice Cooper and company. There are many classic moments, and too many cool tunes to mention on this CD. Some of my favorites are the catchy “Caffeine”, to the Vaudeville fun of “Last Man on Earth”, and the cool rocker “I’ll Bit Your Face Off”. I will be playing this one a ton for years to come.

Voting is now closed, throw away your unused ballots, Welcome 2 My Nightmare will be the easy choice for album of the year in 2011. Highly Recommended!

For over 20 years, whether it’s fronting Brother Cane, working with such stars as Sammy Hagar and John Waite, or touring the world with Alice Cooper; Damon Johnson has had a career most musicians can only dream about.

Damon recently released his second solo album “Release” and is preparing to hit the road once again with Alice Cooper.

Damon took the time from a busy schedule to join Brian Basher on Hard Rock Nights for a special edition of the internationally syndicated radio show.

Damon talks about his latest solo project “Release”, working with Alice Cooper and legendary producer Bob Ezrin on Cooper’s new project “Welcome 2 My Nightmare”, the long lost Damn Yankees album, and of course the future of Brother Cane.

Brian will also debut a new track from “Release” Damon’s version of “Generation Landslide” which features a guest appearance by Alice Cooper on vocals and harmonica.

Damon’s interview debuts Wednesday Apr. 27th on Hard Rock Nights and will be rebroadcast throughout the week by Hard Rock Nights affiliates around the world.

Years ago I cut my vacation short to catch a free show from Brother Cane at a local festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was my first taste of Brother Cane playing live, and I have been wanting to see them again ever since. Until Brother Cane decides to reunite (assuming they do), the only way I can see them live is with the brand new DVD set, “Come Alive Again”. This is a two DVD set capturing two of Brother Cane’s live performances, as well as some rare footage of the band off the stage.

Disc one captures seven songs from Brother Cane from 1995, when they opened up for Van Halen in Fresno, California. The footage does not appear to be proshot, but it is good enough to put a smile on the face of this Brother Cane fan.

The real value in the DVD set is the live concert on the second DVD. The taping is from a live show in 2005 from Pensacola, Florida. The footage on this DVD is awesome, and the set list (see below) in this concert has all of my favorite Brother Cane songs. The footage reminds me a lot of the show that I saw years prior to this taping. It was a show at an outdoor shed, and the band flat out rocked, as they do on this DVD. Watching Brother Cane break into the Police’s Synchronicity in the middle of Kerosene is too cool for words, and is a moment that I can now enjoy over and over again.

If you are a Brother Cane fan, there is no other way to experience this great band live. This concert DVD set does a good job preserving the memory of one the better hard rock bands from the 90’s. You can grab a copy of this DVD on myspace through the Brother Cane and Pain Train Designs sites. Buy it, you wont be disappointed!

For the better part of the summer and fall of 2009, Damon will be returning to the Alice Cooper Band for tour dates in the U.S., Russia, Europe, and Australia. Whiskey Falls will be focusing exclusively on writing and recording and preparing to release new material in various packages throughout the year. “I’m looking forward to playing with Alice again, and am even more excited about the new material that we are writing and producing in Whiskey Falls”, says Damon. After a successful tour with The World’s Toughest Rodeo, the Whiskey Falls guys are grateful for the huge fan base they have built up and want to get their new songs out as soon as possible. Continuing to operate independently and without a major record label, WF will perform select dates throughout the year, depending on scheduling. Updates will be posted here as they come.

Courtesy of Damon Johnson.com

Check out the live video below of Alice Cooper performing School’s Out with Damon Johnson on Guitar.

This group consists of Damon Johnson, and Roman Glick from Brother Cane, and Scott Rockenfeld and Kelly Gray of Queensryche.

I have always liked both bands, but I must admit that I haven’t been very fond of the Kelly Gray, Queensryche years.

After hearing this CD, I wonder how much Geoff Tate has been holding back Kelly, as he kicks ass on this CD. Damon Johnson and the rest of the guys are great as well. Some songs lean towards more album oriented radio friendly rock, others are a little harder. The slower tracks took two or three listens to digest, and have really grown on me. The CD does a good job of mixing the two up.

As a whole, this is a killer CD with no filler tracks. This is straight up hard rock all the way through. If you like either of the two bands, I mentioned above, you are going to like this. It may take you a couple of listens to get into this, but if you give this a chance, you will be pleasantly surprised.